FROM THE TOP
LELAND ACKER
When returning home from a mission trip on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, my wife and I stopped at a convenience store in a small town between Wichita Falls and Fort Worth. It was close to 2 a.m.

My Southern Californian beauty paid a visit to the restroom and I stayed in the lobby. There, one of the locals approached me.

He asked where we were going and I explained we were returning to East Texas after a mission trip. He asked me, "Do y'all have any miracles at your church?"

I replied, "We're Missionary Baptist."

"Oh, I know that, y'all having them missionaries and all, but do you have any miracles?"

He proceeded to tell me about how he was an elder in his church and that his church had healing services often, which were performed by the pastor.

He told me how the pastor would ask him, "Do you believe God can heal this man?" before each healing. He said he always replied, "I don't know."

Listening to this man give me this speech, I was amazed that, by his own statements, he had little faith, despite claiming to have witnessed all these miracles.

I would think that if a person had indeed seen miracles like he described, a person would have no doubt of God's power. Still, he expressed doubt.

I know this guy was probably a talker, and there was probably little truth in what he told me. However, let's examine what faith is.

Hebrews 11:6 says "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

The word "faith" in that verse means a deep-rooted trust or conviction. That's what God wants, He wants us to TRUST Him. If we constantly need God to prove Himself to us, then we don't trust God at all.

My Southern Californian beauty trusts me. I know this because she never asks for verification that I was at work, covering a ball game or visiting a church member. If she constantly checked up on my whereabouts, that would indicate a lack of trust.

When we demand that God prove Himself through signs and wonders, when those signs and wonders guide our thoughts and actions, we show God a complete lack of trust. Take God at His word, the Bible. Don't be like those Jesus described in Matthew 12:39, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign."